dual role to play as climate change ramps up: Not only will they have to tend

to those who get sick as a result, but they can — and should — also make their own work more sustainable so they don’t inadvertently exacerbate the causes of

their patients’ illnesses. Many also see electronic records as a way to improve patient care and lower costs.

As for Kaiser’s green efforts, the local power-player is certainly doing more than many health care institutions. For instance, it has announced plans to put solar panels atop 15 California locations. But its San Francisco hilltop location is not particularly accessible by public transit or bike. (The Walnut Creek location gets a B- in that regard, but the Oakland compound, which runs regular shuttles to MacArthur BART, gets an A+.) In the past, in order to avoid an hour-long bus ride, I’ve rented a City CarShare car to get to Kaiser’s Geary location, and it’s always struck me as a missed PR opportunity that the company, which stresses prevention, doesn’t give CarShare and Zipcar members discounted parking in the multistory garage.